Chapter Text
El turns in circles, darkness surrounding her on all sides. With her heart pounding in her chest, she feels a pull from the left. Looking over, she can see a figure in the distance. Cautiously, carefully, she makes her over, tense and ready to fight if she has to.
She can hear a ticking sound, growing louder with every step she takes.
El stops short when she recognizes the figure, the girl standing in the Void with her.
“Kali?” she whispers. Her sister doesn’t answer, staring straight ahead and not moving. “Kali,” El tries again, reaching for her mind, for the connection the two of them share.
Her sister still doesn’t respond.
El slowly stretches out her arm. When her hand touches Kali’s shoulder, the older girl gasps, as if taking in a lungful of air. She turns quickly, eyes darting all around before landing on the younger of the two.
“El,” she breathes in surprise, before relief quickly takes over. Her hands pat El carefully, searching for injuries. “Are you alright?!”
El nods before pausing. “I- I think so,” she corrects. “…my head hurts.”
Kali frowns. “Mine too.”
El looks around; she can’t see exactly where Kali is, can only hear the sounds surrounding her. Loud voices and ringing bells and music. “Where are you?”
“At the fair- looking for you,” Kali replies. “El, the gate is open again.”
“We know,” she says, though she’s not sure how Kali also knows. “The Mind Flayer is… possessing people. Max’s brother…” She shudders at the memory of Billy- rather, Not-Billy- and hesitates. “He… he did something to me,” she realizes. “I couldn’t wake up.”
Kali grips her shoulders. “El, where are you? Ms. Byers and I will come get you.”
“Home,” El responds.
“What about Steve?” Kali quickly follows up. “Is he with you?“
El shakes her head, and Kali’s eyes widen fearfully. “What?” she wonders. “What’s wrong?”
“El-“
Kali vanishes in smoke.
“Kali?!” El exclaims, scrambling to grab onto her. The sounds of the fair fade away with her sister, leaving El alone in the Void again.
“Kali!”
The ticking returns.
El whirls around in confusion. Another figure, seated in a chair with his back to her. Walking over to him, El’s feels her breathing quicken as dread fills her. Circling towards the man’s front, El freezes when she realizes who it is.
“Steve?” she whispers in horror.
His hair is far too short and there’s a collar around his neck. It reminds El of the lab, of the collars Papa put on them when they were bad.
El can’t help the sob that bursts out of her as she observes her brother. She reaches out for him with a shaky hand, stopping just short of touching him.
How did this happen?
“Steve?” she cries.
He doesn’t seem to notice her, staring directly ahead. Eyes vacant, breathing slowly, just like Kali.
El reaches for their connection, heart stuttering when she can’t feel it. Lunging forward, she grabs his shoulders and shakes him. “Steve!”
He jolts in his seat, glassy eyes finally looking at her. “El?” he murmurs.
“Steve, what happened?” she demands, blinking back tears. “Where are you?”
Steve stiffens, grabbing her arm as a sense of urgency fills his eyes. “El,” he whispers. “Run.”
“…what?”
Then he’s gone.
“Steve!” she shouts as he fades away, her hands gripping only air. “No! No, Steve! STEVE-“
“STEVE!” El screams in horror, scrambling back from where she sits. “STEVE,” she wails.
“El!” Mike exclaims.
“El, it’s okay!” Max soothes. The other girl cradles El in her arms, Mike holding El’s hands in his own. El sobs in Max’s arms, shaking as she struggles to catch her breath.
El shakes her head, ignoring the blood streaming from her nose and the headache pounding through her skull. Her eyes shut closed, picturing Steve as she just saw him. The clothes he wore. His hair shaved down to a buzz.
The collar.
The only explanation she can think of… It shouldn’t be possible. They were supposed to be safe from the lab, Owens promised that they were, Hopper said so. But there’s far too much evidence to the contrary staring her right in the face.
El lets out a choked sob.
“Steve.”
Joyce grips Kali’s arms tightly as the girl snaps out of whatever trance she was in with a sharp gasp.
“Hey, Kali, Kali, hey, hey, look at me,” Joyce rambles, cupping Kali’s face and gently dabbing the blood from her nose. “You’re okay,” she assured. “You’re okay.”
Kali’s eyes flutter close with a wince- maybe due to the noise or the lights- as she sways where she stands.
Alexei says something gently; when Joyce looks at him, he’s gesturing towards a dark corner between two stands. Joyce nods in agreement and the two of them carefully guide Kali over. Helping her sit on a discarded crate, Joyce kneels in front of the girl, studying her closely.
“Sweetheart, can you open your eyes?” Joyce pleads.
Kali nods. “Yeah, just give me a moment,” she replies, resting her head in her hands. “God, my head.”
The young girl is shaking ever-so-slightly, curled up in herself. Joyce rubs a soothing hand over Kali’s arms, still shaken up herself. Kali had been practically comatose, her eyes white as a sheet. Was it a seizure? Maybe something relating to her powers, considering the blood still dripping from the girl’s nose.
“Alexei,” Joyce reaches into her pocket and pulls out a five dollar bill. She shoves it in his hand, ignoring the way she’s struggling to not tremble. “Water,” she insists. She mimes opening a bottle and taking a drink. “Water.”
“Water,” Alexei repeats with his heavy accent. He nods and rushes off, and Joyce turns back towards Kali.
“The cabin,” Kali mutters. “I saw El. She said they’re all at the cabin.”
Joyce lets out a sigh of relief-
“Except for Steve,” Kali adds on, lifting her head. “El doesn’t know where Steve is.” She shakes her head, “If Brenner has him”-
Joyce takes her hand and squeezes it. “Hopper will get him back,” she promises.
“But-”
“We can’t do much right now,” Joyce counters. “Not after… not after that.”
Kali blinks in confusion. “What?”
“I kept calling your name, but it was like you couldn’t hear me,” Joyce explains, struggling to keep her worry from breaking through. “And your eyes were rolled to the back of your head— you just stopped moving.”
“I…” Kali shakes her head. “I don’t know what that was.”
“That wasn’t El, was it?” Joyce wonders.
“No, I- I don’t think so,” the girl murmurs. “I remember it was… it was just dark. And cold. But then El was there, and all that darkness just went away…”
So maybe it is Upside-Down related. If the Russians are opening the gate, maybe the Mind Flayer tried to take Kali? It was a little familiar to what happened to Will on the field last year. She had called her baby’s name out so many times, desperately shaking him to try to get him to snap out of what seizure or trance he was in. He wouldn’t answer her, just like Kali hadn’t now.
But why Kali? The Mind Flayer couldn’t know she had powers, could it? Will hadn’t even met her until after El closed the gate, so it wasn’t like he had any memories about her for the monster to learn from. She’d never been involved before, either. Not like Steve and El.
A terrible thought takes root in Joyce’s mind.
Kali said El was okay, but Steve was missing.
What if it wasn’t because of Brenner… but because of the Upside-Down?
“Joyce,” Kali suddenly hisses, eyes fixed to their right. Following the girl’s gaze, Joyce stiffens when she sees him.
The Russian assassin.
“Alexei,” Joyce whispers in fear.
Kali gets up, swaying slightly before Joyce rises up and steadies her.
“Come on,” Joyce murmurs urgently, “I’ve got you.”
Supporting the girl’s weight, Joyce leads the two of them out of the dark corner. Doing her best to keep them out of sight of the Russian, blending in with the crowds as best they can, Joyce scans the fair with wide eyes.
“Do you see him?” she wonders.
“No,” Kali replies.
Joyce resists gnawing at her lip when she suddenly spots him. “There he is!”
She points ahead of them, about ten yards away, where Alexei is turning from a vendor with two water bottles in hand. He seems to spot them, but then his eyes widen, his steps slowing down.
“Oh shit,” Kali whispers; following her gaze, Joyce gasps when she sees the Russian walking towards him, gun in hand.
He walks right past Alexei before slipping into the crowd.
Joyce stares, horror filling her at the sight of blood on Alexei’s shirt.
“Alexei!” Joyce cries out.
They rush towards the man, Kali panting with the effort.
Alexei drops the bottles of water and stares down at his chest, hand gingerly touching the wound. When he pulls it back, it’s covered in blood. He frowns, blinking slowly.
“Alexei!” Joyce shouts again, reaching him and pulling one of his arms over her shoulders to support him. She presses her other hand against the gunshot wound, the blood gushing against her fingers. “Oh no,” she whispers. “Oh my God.”
Kali moves to his other side, helping Joyce support him.
“это не больно,” Alexei mutters.
“Let’s go,” Kali orders.
“это не больно.”
They help Alexei move, the three of them stumbling behind a row of stands, away from the town’s eyes. After setting Alexei down on the ground, Joyce hovers, unsure what to do.
Alexei breathes heavily, staring down at his wound. He seems so confused, so afraid.
Jumping into action, Joyce rips off the flannel wrapped around her waist, crumpling it into a ball and moving to shove it against the wound. She needs to stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down long enough for them to get help.
“Joyce,” Alexei grabs her hands. “это не больно.”
“I have to put pressure,” Joyce insists. “It’s- we need to-”
“Joyce,” Kali squeezes her shoulder tightly.
She snaps her head towards Kali, freezing at the sight of blood coming from the girl’s nose. Kali wipes it away.
Joyce blinks, then suddenly Alexei’s shirt is clean of any blood. His hands, her hands, are no longer covered in it.
“Wha… what?” she breathes.
Alexei scrambles, pulling the hem of his shirt off to look at his torso. There’s no blood, no gunshot wound, nothing. Patting himself as if to make sure, Alexei chuckles to himself.
“это не больно.”
“I- I don’t understand,” Joyce stammers. “You- he got shot, we saw him get shot!”
Kali lifts her closed fist, opening it to reveal…
A bullet?
Joyce takes it, staring with wide eyes.
“I stopped it before it hit him,” Kali explains, “and made it look like he got shot.” She leans tiredly against a stand, “He’s okay.”
“Okay,” Alexei repeats, squeezing Joyce’s hand reassuringly. He looks at Kali gratefully. “Спасибо.”
Kali nods tightly before glancing over her shoulder towards the fair. “Hopefully the Russians think he’s dead now,” she mutters, before turning back towards them. “We have to go,” she insists and Joyce nods in agreement.
If Will and Jonathan are at the Hoppers’ cabin, then that’s where she needs to be. The Russians thinking Alexei’s dead means they won’t be putting any of the kids in danger by going there, and it’ll be a safe place for all of them to lay low while Hopper and Murray close the gate.
“Let’s go,” she declares.
“Something’s wrong,” El insists once they’ve calmed her down enough. “Something bad.”
“What happened?” Nancy asks, concern filling her. El kept crying, screaming Steve’s name; if she’s saying something’s wrong… Stepping forward, Nancy holds El’s gaze. “Is Steve-“ She cuts herself off, heart pounding as she imagines the worst.
She swallows roughly, “Has he been Flayed?”
“No,” El counter. “But he- he’s in danger- they hurt him-“
“Who?” Max asks gently. “Who hurt him? Where is he?”
El blinks back her tears. “I don’t know,” she says. “I couldn’t see where he was, but he’s hurt, and he told me to run-”
Nancy bites her lip, trying to make sense of it all. El is clearly terrified and worried for Steve, but if it has nothing to do with the Upside-Down, then what kind of danger could he possibly be in?
“Something is wrong,” El insists. “Steve needs help. He-“ El suddenly stops, her eyes darting briefly towards Will, then Jonathan and Nancy. Nancy’s surprised to see wariness and hesitancy in her gaze.
El wrings her hands, a frustrated whine coming from her throat.
Nancy’s at a loss. She wants to help El, wants to help Steve. Things between them ended… well, not great. They never really got to talk things over, not since the night El closed the gate on the Mind Flayer.
Steve wasn’t wrong when he said Nancy had been leading him on, but Nancy just hadn’t wanted to face it then. She hadn’t meant to; she did care about Steve. She probably always will, but she didn’t love him, not the way he loved her. He’d been the safe option, the easy option.
Still, it wasn’t fair to him. By the time Nancy overcame her guilt and shame, so much time had gone by. The thought of bringing it up made her so uncomfortable, that she just… never did. Which means that she and Steve barely spend any time together anymore.
They see each other in passing, of course, what with Steve spending so much time with Mike and the Party. He seemed just as eager as her to avoid anything more than small talk. Mike hadn’t even liked Steve when they’d been dating, and even he was fed up with the situation.
“Just fix it, Nancy,” Mike had snapped tiredly after one particularly awkward drop off. “Even Jonathan’s talked to Steve, and they worked out their shit. You guys don’t have to be friends, but I’m sick of you two tiptoeing around each other! It’s annoying!”
“Oh shit,” Lucas whispers, bringing Nancy back to the present. The boy is staring at El and Nancy curses herself for not paying attention.
“What?” she wonders.
El curls further into herself, even as all of the kids- except for Will, strangely- exchange nervous glances. Looking at Jonathan, Nancy can see he’s just as lost as she is. That’s… concerning. What do the kids know that she and Jonathan don’t?
“Does it have to do with the lab?” Will suddenly asks. El looks at him sharply and that sends suspicion running down Nancy’s spine.
“The lab?“ she repeats, slowly. “Hawkins Lab? It’s shut down.”
“What would the lab want with Steve, anyways?” Jonathan wonders. He glances at El, “To get to you?”
El’s eyes Will warily and Nancy knows she’s missing something here. Something very important…
“I saw when you were all in the tunnels,” Will explains hesitantly. “In my now-memories. I- I saw what happened.”
What happened? Nancy repeats internally. What… what happened in the tunnels? None of the kids had been hurt, Steve’s injuries were because of Billy… Unless they lied?
“We didn’t mean to keep it from you,” Mike rushes to apologize.
Mike keeping secrets from Will?
Nancy feels something grip her chest. That makes no sense; Will is Mike’s best friend. Why would Mike be keeping something from Will? What did Steve or the lab have to do with any of this?
“No, I get it,” Will assures. “I’m not mad, or upset. It wasn’t your place to tell me, especially if Steve didn’t want to say anything in the first place-“
“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Nancy demands sharply, and all the kids look at her with wide eyes.
El sits up, exhaling shakily. “Steve is my brother,” she declares.
Nancy frowns, but nods anyways. “I know,” she replies, still uncertain. “Hopper adopted you both-”
“No,” El counters. “He’s my brother.”
Jonathan stiffens next to Nancy. “Holy shit,” he whispers. Nancy watches as he looks over at Will, who nods once. Her boyfriend pales in response. “Holy shit,” he repeats.
Nancy wants to tug her hair out; what the hell is going on-
“Seven,” El declares, gaining Nancy’s attention once more. The younger girl points to her wrist, to the 011 tattoo. “Steve is Seven.”
Nancy’s world stutters to a halt. She can feel the blood draining from her face, her breathing quickening as she processes the information. Steve is…?
She shakes her head in denial. “No, that’s- that can’t be true,” she counters.
“He saved our asses down in the tunnels last fall,” Lucas counters.
“We’ve seen him use his powers,” Max adds. “He has a tattoo like El’s. It’s why he always wears that watch; to hide it.”
Nancy knows exactly what Max is referring to; the watch with the wide band that he never takes off, not for swim meets, or showers, or even when they-
She shuts down that train of thought immediately.
But Steve having powers? He would’ve told her! It can’t be true, it just can’t be. If it is, then that means…
Mike looks at her and nods once. “It’s true, Nancy,” he insists.
Nancy takes a step backwards, her heart dropping. “Oh my God,” she whispers. Jonathan squeezes her hand gently and Nancy grips him back tightly. “Oh my God.”
She… she accused him of not caring about Barb. About being willing to turn a blind eye and letting the lab get away with everything they’d done.
She called him bullshit for it.
“We could tell them the truth,” Nancy whispered.
Steve visibly recoiled. “You know that we can’t do that," he said lowly.
“We don’t have to tell them everything-”
“No, this isn’t some game, Nancy,” Steve argued. “If those people found out that you told anyone…“
At the time, Nancy thought the worst of Steve. She thought he was being selfish, that he didn’t care about getting justice for Barb, her best friend. She thought he didn’t think the Hollands deserved the closure they desperately needed.
“They could lock us up, okay? Or worse, they could hurt our families, and the people we care about. And there’d be nothing we can do to stop them.”
At the time, his words had little effect on Nancy. How could she not have seen what was clearly right in front of her?
Steve had been afraid.
Not just because the lab was run by a shady government organization, but because he knew… He knew exactly what they were capable of. If Nancy and Jonathan had made one simple error, one mistake, they could’ve pointed the lab in Steve’s direction. Unwittingly helping them find and recapture him because Steve was Seven.
Nancy lets go of Jonathan, turning away from the group and covering her mouth as she struggles to keep her sobs in.
Steve begged her, begged, to let it go. To not poke the metaphorical bear so as to not gain their attention. He’d been afraid and Nancy hadn’t seen it. Didn’t trust him to know what he was talking about, didn’t care enough to ask him why.
She called him bullshit and told him she didn’t love him…
“Bad men,” El says behind her, and Nancy shuts her eyes. “They hurt Steve. We have to help him.”
The kids keep talking amongst themselves, their words lost on Nancy. She needs to pay attention, she needs to learn all the facts she can so she can figure out what to do.
If the lab is back… if they have Steve…
She’s not going to let him down again. She can’t.
Steeling herself, Nancy blinks back the tears threatening to fall and faces the group once more.
“What about Billy?” Will suddenly asks. “Did he do something to you?”
“What?” El frowns.
“We couldn’t wake you up,” Will explains. “And your eyes were white. It’s like you were in a trance or something. I… I sensed him when it happened.”
Was that what happened? Nancy wonders. The Mind Flayer, through Billy, trapping El in her own mind?
“He said he was building something,” El answers.
“Building something…” Max murmurs. “Is he talking about the Flayed?”
“He must be,” Nancy nods, jumping back into the conversation, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. She feels vulnerable, and the kids don’t need that right now. With the Chief and Ms. Byers MIA, and Steve, who’s been their more-than-capable protector, now in danger… She and Jonathan are all that the kids have. And if the Mind Flayer can get to El’s mind…
“So he’s building an army, just like we thought,” Lucas realizes.
“Yeah, but he’s not building this army to spread,” Mike interjects.
Will’s eyes widen. “He’s building it to stop El.”
“Not just me,” El whispers. “He said it was all for…”
“For who?”
“He… he called us the Numbers,” El murmurs.
“You, Kali, and… Steve?” Jonathan says hesitantly.
“Last year, El closed the gate on him,” Mike summarizes, “and I get that that must’ve pissed him off. And Steve, I guess because he fought the demodogs last year? But why Kali?”
“The Mind Flayer must know that the… Numbers,” the word comes out of Will’s mouth in uncertainty, “are the only ones who can stop him. If he can take them all out, get them all out of the way…”
“Game over,” Lucas finishes worriedly.
“He also said he was going to kill all of you,” El adds on, a stunned silence falling over the cabin.
“Well, that’s nice,” Max scoffs.
“We need to find Steve,” Mike declares. “We need all the firepower we can get and if he’s in danger, we have to help him. If the lab is back, then maybe that’s why the Mind Flayer is back. Maybe they opened another gate.”
Something screeches in the distance, making everyone stiffen with wide eyes.
“You guys hear that, right?” Nancy whispers.
“It’s just the fireworks,” Jonathan reasons.
That doesn’t sound like fireworks…
Nancy turns towards El. When the Mind Flayer took over Will, it could see everything Will saw. If Billy- the Mind Flayer- got into El’s mind, then… “When Billy spoke to you, was it here? In this room?”
Everyone stares at El. She nods slowly.
The thudding and screeching gets louder. From the corner of her eye, El can see Will reach for the back of his neck with a haunted look on his face.
“He knows we’re here,” he breathes.
It’s all a blur to Nancy after that. Finding one of Hopper’s guns, it’s easy to push aside her emotions, her fears, her downward spiral, and focus on the here and now. Protect the kids, stay alive, get everyone out in one piece.
Each of the kids grab something to defend themselves with- just like Steve told them to last fall- and they stand in a circle, backs to each other to protect and watch out for each other.
The Mind Flayer nearly gets her again, and it’s thanks to El that Nancy isn’t killed. Or worse, turned into one of the Flayed.
Had Steve used his powers when he saved her and Jonathan two years ago?
Then the Mind Flayer nearly takes El. For a horrifying moment, Nancy thinks she’s let the girl down, let Hopper down, let Steve down. She fears for Hawkins, for her family, because if the Mind Flayer kills El, it can kill Steve and Kali, and then destroy everything and everyone.
But they save El.
Nancy fires the shotgun at the creature’s mouth while Lucas chops at it’s tongue-tentacle thing with an axe. Despite being injured and clearly in pain, El rips the monster in two, but it’s still not dead. Still, the girl’s actions buys the Party enough time to run for the Wheeler’s station wagon.
Nancy makes sure everyone is inside before she floors it, putting as much distance between them and the monster as possible.
“Is everyone alright?” she asks over her shoulder.
“We’re still alive, if that counts,” Max mutters, her focus clearly more on El than anything else.
“Now what?” Will asks.
“We get El patched up,” Nancy declares. Her hands tighten on the wheel. “Then we find Steve.”
“El,” Steve whispers. “Run.”
“…what?”
Then she’s gone.
“Steve!” Her voice fades away along with her, echoing all around him, “No! No, Steve! STEVE-“
“Seven.”
Steve jolts in his seat, Marty McFly’s skateboarding skills going unnoticed when Steve realizes he’s completely alone.
El’s gone. Robin’s gone. Everyone in the theater is gone.
“Robin?” Steve calls out. Standing up, he stumbles unsteadily on his feet as he scans the room. El being gone… while it was sudden and abrupt, it makes sense. Her concentration could’ve been broken and at least he knows that she’s still alive, despite the gate being open once more.
But for Robin to just vanish? For everyone in this room to vanish, without Steve realizing it?
“Seven…”
A deep growling voice echoes around him. Soft red light pours in from the theater’s exit, catching his eye. Against his better judgement, he walks towards the glow, towards the voice. He leaves the theater behind, barely noticing the movie’s distorted audio.
In the theater’s lobby, Steve pauses, looking around. It’s the movie theater, but not quite. The area glows red and the floor is covered in a thin layer of water, soaking through his socks.
“What the hell?” he murmurs.
He steps forward, a quiet ticking echoing.
tick…
tick…
tick…
tick…
“It is almost time,” the voice promises, a heavy hand dropping on his shoulder-
“Steve.”
His eyes snap open, gaze focusing on Robin. They’re standing in the theater lobby, which is no longer glowing red and the floor is dry. His socks and feet are dry, too.
And his head hurts.
It hurts so fucking much.
“You ditched me,” Robin pouts, removing her hand from his shoulder. “I’m thirsty,” she announces. She grabs Steve by the wrist and drags him to the water fountain just a little further down.
“Hey,” Robin frowns, poking his cheek again. “Your nose is bleeding.”
Steve frowns, wiping his nose. Huh. Sure enough, there’s blood on his finger. “But I- I wasn’t using my powers,” he mutters.
“Your nose bleeds when you use your powers?” Robin questions. “That… sucks.”
Steve grumbles, pushing the button on the side of the water fountain and clumsily wiping his finger under the water.
“Ew!” Robin complains. “That’s disgusting.”
Steve merely sticks his tongue out at her. Then, to take it up a notch, he starts drinking water first, despite it being Robin’s idea to get something to drink and-
Oh.
Oh wow.
That tastes amazing.
He slurps down the water, the cold liquid soothing the burn in his throat he didn’t even realize he had. “That’s amazing,” he vocalizes before chugging even more.
“So like,” Robin begins from the wall next to him, “I wasn’t totally focused in there or anything, but… I’m pretty sure… that mom was trying to bang her son.”
Steve lifts his head. “Wait, wait, the hot chick was Alex P. Keaton’s mom?”
“Yeahhh, I’m pretty sure,” Robin says.
Steve frowns. “But they’re the same age?” he points out before slurping even more water.
“No, he went back in time.”
Steve swallows the water and scoffs. “Then why is it called Back to the Future?”
“He has to go back to the future because he’s in the past, so the future is actually the present which is his time.”
Steve pauses. “Wha… what?”
“No, it’s my turn,” Robin grumbles, shoving Steve away from the water fountain. “You’ve had enough.”
Steve groans, but concedes victory to Robin. He sways unsteadily on his feet before regaining his balance. He wipes his nose, checking for more blood, but it seems to have stopped. His head still hurts like crazy though, and honestly? He just wants to lay down.
Glancing around the empty theater lobby, Steve doesn’t see why he can’t just… lay down here. The floor is dry after all, and the creepy red light is gone, so…
He sits down on the ground, none too gracefully, before flopping onto his back with a relieved sigh. That’s better.
Glancing at the ceiling above him, Steve’s eyes widen as he grins goofily. Wow…
“Hey Robin, you gotta check this out,” Steve calls out. She walks over to him quickly, plopping down on the ground next to him with a soft oof, but Steve doesn’t tear his gaze from the ceiling. He points up at it with a finger, his limbs loose and uncoordinated.
“Check this… the ceiling?” he tells her. “It’s beautiful.”
“Oh wow,” Robin agrees, giggling lightly.
The ceiling sparkles and shimmers, swaying gently above the two as they stare in awe.
It’s absolutely stunning.
Then, the ceiling distorts.
Spins and warps. The lights fracturing and growing brighter and brighter.
Steve swallows roughly with a grunt, suddenly feeling sick-
He and Robin scramble to their feet at the same time, darting for the nearest bathroom. Robin goes in first; it’s the women’s restroom, and Steve’s too close to puking his guts out to even consider trying to find the men’s room, so he follows her.
Robin dives into the left stall while Steve dives for the right stall, knees banging the floor as he hunches over the toilet and retches.
“Is it sweet?” she hears Will ask.
“That’s an understatement,” Lucas replies as Max turns the corner seeing the two of them gushing over fireworks of all things.
“That doesn’t look like a bowl,” Max snaps.
“Nah, it’s way better,” Lucas grins, and Max rolls her eyes. “There is a reason this warning label says ’18 or older,’” he continues. “This sucker is filled with 150 grains of black powder, aka gunpowder.”
He tosses her the box, which Max catches.
“Strap two of these together, and it’s bigger than an M-80,” Lucas gushes. “Five of them? We’ve got ourselves a stick of dynamite.”
It clicks in Max’s head and both of her brows shoot up in disbelief. “You wanna kill that thing with fireworks?” she demands.
“Do you have a better idea?” Lucas asks in return.
“Uh, yeah,” Max scoffs. “Eleven. Steve. Kali. You know, our three super-powered friends.”
“Okay, but you saw what happened at the cabin,” Lucas insists. “El could barely hold that thing off on her own. Even with Steve and Kali backing her up, the extra help can’t hurt.”
“Besides, we might not even find Steve before the Mind Flayer finds us again,” Will adds nervously.
Max bristles at the statement, the reminder that Steve is MIA sending a flood of worry through her system. She’s never had to face the Upside Down without Steve. Since her first encounter with it last year, Steve had been there. He protected her, all of them, from start to finish. Going through this again without him feels wrong.
Knowing he might be in danger makes it even worse.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Lucas quickly adds, as if noticing her sour mood.
Will quickly nods in agreement. “Yeah, of course.”
Max nods sharply, not assuaged by their words.
“Hey,” Nancy calls out, making them all turn to face her. “Mike heard from Dustin.”
“Does that hurt?” Mike wonders, keeping pressure on El’s leg like Max instructed.
“Uh, not bad,” El shrugs with a half-smile.
It’s not much, but it still makes Mike perk up. “You’re gonna have an awesome scar,” he continues. “You’ll look even more badass.”
El grins, though it’s subdued. “Bitchin’,” she states.
Mike nods in agreement. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Bitchin’.”
When El doesn’t say anything else, Mike decides to take a chance and scoots a little closer to her. “He’ll be okay,” he assures, knowing what has El this quiet. He holds her gaze when she stares at him with wide eyes. “Steve, I mean,” he clarifies. “I’m sure he’s fine. He’s strong, you know? And he always gets back up; like a tank.”
“A tank?” El frowns.
“Yeah!” Mike nods eagerly. “In DnD, a tank is a character who takes the hits for the Party. Protects them. Steve is like that. That’s how I know he’s going to be fine.” He readjusts the cloth on El’s leg. “He just needs some help right now. So we’ll find him, and we’ll keep him safe. Just like he always keeps us safe,” Mike promises.
El sends him a small smile. “Thank you,” she whispers.
Mike wishes he could reassure her more, help her not worry so much, but he can’t help his own trepidation. It’s taking all he has to put on a brave face for El and reassure her. In reality, Mike is worried.
He doesn’t hate Steve, though he knows he gives off that impression. Mike also knows that he pushes Steve’s buttons, walking the fine line between teasing and being an asshole. Always trying to find where the boundary is, trying to see how far he can push the older boy. Steve always gives as good as he gets, but he never makes Mike feel unwelcome or unsafe. Just the opposite, actually.
Since the tunnels last fall, Mike has wondered if there’s anything he can do to make the older boy just… give up on him. So far, nothing Mike does or says makes Steve any less protective of him. The way he protects all the Party’s members doesn’t change, no matter what any of them do or say. Whether it’s Max snapping at him after a rough day with Billy, Lucas getting frustrated with him during their basketball sessions, or Dustin saying one too many snarky comments, Steve has never let them down.
Part of Mike can’t understand it. Steve Harrington had been an absolute dick, and Nancy changed so much when they started dating. Mike knows about the fight between him and Jonathan in 1983, he knows what Steve’s asshole friends wrote about Nancy. He also knows that Steve saved Nancy and Jonathan from the demogorgon, saved Dustin, Lucas, and Max in the junkyard, and saved them all in the tunnels. He knows that Steve has changed.
He knows that Steve’s been through a lot of shit too, like Eleven.
Mike just can’t bring himself to rely on Steve, not the way the others can. He doesn’t know why, but he can’t. And Mike hates both himself and Steve for it.
Glancing at El’s worried expression, brows furrowing as she stares at her wound, Mike withholds a sigh. He hates being broken up; these past couple of days have sucked. Big time. He misses El, but looking at her new friendship with Max, and examining how he and Lucas have been failing Will and Dustin…
Hopper wasn’t wrong when he insisted Mike and El needed some space. Mike gets that now. He knows he wouldn’t have listened to the Chief unless forced him to stay away from El, leading to their break-up. He would’ve ignored Hopper’s complaints, continuing to spend all his time with El. Remaining completely unaware of what he was doing to his friendships with Will and Dustin, ignorant of how he was monopolizing El’s time.
They needed this.
But he doesn’t have to like it.
“El…”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been meaning to tell you something,” Mike begins. “It’s just, being broken up, it’s been hard. I like that you and Max are friends now. It’s just, I was jealous at first, and- and angry.” He swallows roughly. “And that’s why I said all that stupid stuff. And it’s like I wanted you all to myself. And now I realize how unfair that is. And selfish. And, like… I’m sorry. I just, like, I’ve never felt like this, you know, with anyone before… and…” He sighs, ignoring the burning in his cheeks. “You know, they do say it makes you crazy.”
El frowns, brows furrowed. “What makes you crazy?”
Mike freezes. Oh… El doesn’t know that phrase, does she?
Panic sets in.
“You never… you never heard that term,” he mutters. “You know, like the phrase… like… “blank makes you crazy,” like that word…”
El pauses pensively. “Girlfriends?” she asks confused.
“No!” Mike quickly denies. “No, no, no, no, not- not girlfriends.”
“Boyfriends,” El corrects with a knowing grin.
Mike groans internally. “No,” he counters. “No, not boyfriends, either! It’s like- like a feeling or-“
“A feeling?” El questions softly.
“Yeah, like something… like old people say it to each other sometimes-“
El blinks. “Old people?”
“What I wanna say is,” Mike presses on, “that I just- I know that I-“
“-opy? I repeat, this is a code red!”
Mike and El both look towards Lucas’ discarded walkie, Dustin’s voice coming over the channel. Distorted and garbled, but it’s so clearly him, and he’s calling a code red when the gate is open and Steve is missing, but if anyone’s seen Steve lately it’d be Dustin, and what if they already know about the gate or the Flayed-
Mike dives for the walkie. “Dustin?”
“Mike?”
“Dustin!” he exclaims.
“Mike!” Dustin replies, and he sounds worried. “Oh my God, you have to listen. Is El with you? Is she okay?”
Mike turns towards El, who’s listening intently. “Yeah, we’re okay- I mean, sort of-“
“Mike, listen to me!” Dustin interjects. “Brenner is alive!”
Mike freezes, his eyes meeting El’s.
“Papa?” she whispers shakily, face growing pale.
Dustin keeps talking, but the connection goes in and out, his words breaking up. “He’s… with the… sounds insane, but… infiltrated Hawkins!… And… they’re… open the gate-“
“Did he say gate?” El murmurs.
“Dustin, you’re- you’re breaking up!” Mike insists.
“After us… Steve’s…”
“Dustin!” Mike tries. “You’re cutting out! What happened to Steve? What about the gate?”
“Mike?”
“Dustin, are you there?”
“Mi- Mike- ‘ou- -py?”
“Dustin?” Only static comes over the walkie. “Shit!” Mike snaps before pressing the button again, “Dustin!!”
More static.
Nancy runs into the aisle, no doubt having heard the commotion. “What happened?” she asks, eye flicking from Mike to the walkie in his hand.
“It was Dustin- get the others!” Mike tells her, and she runs off to do just that.
El pushes herself to her feet, wincing in pain.
“Wait- your wound-“
“I need quiet,” she replies tersely, “and a blindfold.”
She stumbles and Mike reaches out to support her. “Okay,” he acquiesces. “Okay, let’s…” He tries to think about what they can use in the store to give El the white noise she needs.
“The freezers,” he suggests. They make their way to the frozen goods, everyone else finding them along the way. They rush to open up all the freezer doors and get El set up while Mike explains the little bit they managed to hear from Dustin.
They quiet down long enough for El to search for Dustin and Steve, Max elbowing Lucas when he slurps his Diet Coke a little too loudly. Mike tries so hard to not fidget where he stands.
Dustin is one of his best friends, and they haven’t heard from him since this all started. The last time he even saw Dustin was the day he came back from camp. On the way to Weathertop, where Dustin had been so excited to show them his radio, to introduce them to Suzie- if she’s even real- and Mike and El had bailed on him. True, the rest of the Party did too, but they at least spent the day with Dustin.
Now, Dustin could be in danger and their last interaction was Mike ditching him.
El rips the blindfold off. “I found Dustin,” she declares. “He’s at the mall, with Lucas’ sister.”
“Erica?” Lucas asks in surprise.
“They’re looking for Steve,” El continues before frowning, “I still can’t find him.”
“Where in the mall are they?” Max asks as she and Nancy move to start patching up El’s wound.
“The movies.”
“‘The movies?’” Lucas repeats. “Dustin’s so freaked out about the gate, he decides to go watch a movie?” He scoffs, “Yeah, makes total sense.”
“You’re positive he said “gate” and not “great”?” Max wonders.
“Yeah, like, “This movie I’m watching is great” or something?” Will tries.
“It sounded like gate,” El insists. “And I saw him. He wasn’t watching the movie; they were looking for Steve. They said they had to find him before… before Papa does.”
“Shit,” Mike mutters. “Dustin wouldn’t just tell Erica about Brenner unless they were in some serious shit.”
“We have to help,” Lucas says.
“That thing is still out there,” Jonathan reminds them, “and the gate is still open.”
“If the gate is open, then that explains how the Mind Flayer’s still alive,” Mike begins. “So we just have to shut it again.”
“Then the monster dies,” Will adds on.
“But if not, we always have Lucas’ fireworks,” Max snarks.
“Keep mocking my plan, Max,” Lucas shoots back. “Keep mocking it. I wanna hear you say it again, because you keep doubting me. You keep doubting me!”
Max rolls her eyes. “Ridiculous.”
Lucas looks at Will. “Will, we’re gonna prove them wrong, right?”
The slamming of a car door stops all conversation, the group immediately quieting down and tensing up. Nancy and Jonathan move in front of them, Nancy lifting her gun and aiming it towards the sound.
El pushes herself to her feet, Mike and Max helping her up, and moves to Nancy’s right. Ready to protect them.
Ms. Byers and Kali turn the corner, stopping short when they spot them.
“Kali!” El cries out in relief.
“Mom!” Will exclaims at the same time.
Mike watches as Kali rushes to El’s side, hugging her tightly, as Ms. Byers does the same with Will and Jonathan.
“We were on our way to the cabin, but I thought I recognized the station wagon- and I saw the broken door,” Ms. Byers chuckles almost nervously as she hugs her sons. “Are you all okay?” she wonders. Everyone answers in the affirmative, and Ms. Byers relaxes slightly before her eyes zero in on El and her leg. “Sweetheart, what happened?”
“The Mind Flayer’s been infecting people and turning them into goo to make a weapon,” Lucas explains. “It attacked us at the cabin, but El ripped it in half.”
“And got hurt doing it,” Max adds on, gesturing to El’s leg. “It’s still alive, though.”
Kali and Ms. Byers stare at them in stunned silence.
“Oh,” Ms. Byers manages. “Alright, so we have to deal with that, too.”
“Any word from Steve?” Kali asks.
Mike exchanges a look with El, which Kali and Ms. Byers both catch.
“Bad men,” El whispers.
“El found Dustin in the Void,” Max elaborates. “He’s in the mall looking for Steve. But she hasn’t been able to find Steve in the Void since yesterday.”
“The base must have something to block her out,” Kali murmurs. “He would’ve taken the precaution to stay hidden.”
“Papa?” El questions. Kali nods slowly.
“Wait, what base?” Jonathan frowns.
Ms. Byers and Kali exchange a wary look, and Mike finds himself dreading the implications. If the military or US government is back, El and Steve really are in danger-
“The Russians built a base below Starcourt Mall because they’re trying to open a gate to the Upside-Down, and Brenner’s helping them do it in exchange for their help kidnapping Steve and El,” Kali explains drily.
Silence falls over the group, everyone reacting with either widened eyes or dropped jaws. Mike knows he’s not faring any better, and he’s pretty sure he speaks for everyone when he says,
“Fuck.”